Everything but a Dream
by WriterFreak001
Summary: This is an alternate ending to 1x20 "Crossroads" in favor of WAIGE fans. :)


**WriterFreak001: **

I promised someone on Tumblr that I would write an alternate WAIGE ending to 1x20 "Crossroads," so this is that write-up! I hope you enjoy it! :D

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**Title** | Everything but a Dream

**Fandom** | _Scorpion_ (CBS)

**Description** | An alternate ending to 1x20 "Crossroads."

**Rating**| This fanfiction will be rated M for suggestive romantic themes.

**POV** | Limited Third Person

**Disclaimer** | While CBS owns _**Scorpion**_, I am the owner of this masterpiece.

**Claimer** | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something _should_ be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

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**Everything but a Dream**

**Written by WriterFreak001**

**One-Shot**

**~ S****CORPION ~**

Walter couldn't believe he was actually taking Toby's advice, but the shrink was right; if he didn't do something soon, Drew was going to swoop in and steal his chance at what could be a happy life. He slowly walked up to Paige's condo from his car and smiled when he saw the mother and son getting ready to sit down for dinner. It was now or never. He swiftly walked into the lobby and scrambled up the stairs to the second level of the complex; he anxiously knocked on the door and then shoved his hands into his pockets.

The door slowly swung open.

"Walter," Paige blinked with surprise, "What're you doing here?"

Walter froze; he really didn't think about what he would say or do once she opened the door. "I, um…," he scratched the side of his face, "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Paige smiled as she stepped away from the door, letting him step inside. "We're about to eat dinner so if you're hungry, I can fix another plate."

"Oh. Yeah. Okay." Walter inwardly smacked himself for interrupting their dinner; he should have waited inside his car until they were done eating. He wouldn't have minded watching the mother and son interact with each other from afar. He decided to wait until Ralph was in bed before telling her…. "Sounds good."

"Good." Paige smiled and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. As she briskly walked towards the kitchen, he sauntered over to the table where Ralph was patiently waiting for his mother to sit down.

"Hi Walter." Ralph beamed as he grinned at him.

"Hey, buddy." Walter couldn't help but return the boy's smile as he ruffled Ralph's hair.

"Mom told me about the case you guys had today." Ralph said as he reached for his milk glass before taking a small sip from it. "Seemed like a crazy one, if you ask me."

"Well, crazy does seem to be right up our alley these days," Walter smirked, mentally recalling all of the bizarre cases Scorpion has handled in the last few months.

"What's the craziest one you've worked so far?" Ralph asked as Paige made her way back into the dinette with an extra table setting.

In truth? It would most likely be the one where he had to seduce a woman in order to gather intel on dangerous chemicals, but the less he remembered about that particular case, the better. "Probably when we had to temporarily restore the memory of an Alzheimer's patient to obtain information on the whereabouts of a football from sixteen years ago."

"All that for a football?" Ralph raised his eyebrows. "That's ridiculous."

"It's… a bit more complicated than that." Walter chuckled but decided not to explain to Ralph what the football _really _was.

"What about you, Mom?" Ralph asked his mother as Paige pulled her chair back and sat down at the table. Walter did the same and sat next to her with Ralph sitting across from him. "What was the craziest case you've done so far?"

"For me," Paige leaned towards her son and lightly poked his nose, "it was when we went to Mexico and had to figure out how to outsmart and outrun motion-sensor guns."

"How did you do that?" Ralph's eyes popped open with curiosity.

Walter caught Paige's sudden glance before she grinned at her son and said, "While Cabe shot one of them down with his firearm, Walter distracted the other one by tossing a crate of oranges within its firing range." Walter knew she skirted over some details, but he didn't mind; the memory of her landing on top of him was probably awkward for her too.

"That makes sense." Ralph blinked before he started digging into his dinner. Both Walter and Paige did the same.

"So, Walter," Paige captured his attention as she sliced a piece off of her steak flank, "not that I'm complaining, but why _are _you here?"

"Oh, um," Walter gulped, "I, uh," he looked at Ralph and then back at Paige. "Later?"

"Okay," Paige nodded with a smile. "After Ralph goes to bed, we can talk then."

Walter pursed his lips. "Okay."

**~ SCORPION ~**

After dinner, Walter slowly forgot about his main reason for coming to Paige's condo in the first place. For the next two hours, he and Ralph spent time playing some video games while Paige studied for her night classes in her bedroom. When it was time for Ralph to go to bed, Paige came out of her room and told the two geniuses to shut off the games. Ralph objected, begging for five more minutes, and as Walter was about to tell him he should listen to his mother, Paige caved and gave them five more minutes of video gaming. While Walter and Ralph finished their last round of racing, Paige was in the kitchen brewing some tea for later. Walter's ears were so focused on the sounds Paige was making that he really wasn't paying attention to what he was doing with his controller. He lost the race miserably against Ralph, but he let the boy believe he went easy on him – which, technically was true…ish.

"All right, Ralph," Paige circled around the couch and ruffled her son's hair, "bedtime."

"Do I have to?" Ralph locked eyes with his mother's dark brown irises and released a heavy sigh.

"Yes. School night, bud." Paige gave him a kiss on the forehead as she wrapped her fingers around the boy's controller before placing it on the coffee table beside her. "Go get ready for bed; I'll be in shortly to say goodnight."

"Can Walter say goodnight too?" The boy's eyes lit up with hope. Paige glanced at Walter and gave him a smile; he couldn't help but return it.

"I think he'd like that," Paige returned her attention to Ralph and lightly poked him in the stomach. "Now, go on. We'll be in your room shortly."

"Okay." Ralph pushed himself off of the couch and sauntered towards his room.

After the boy shut his bedroom door, Paige turned off the console as well as the TV. She picked up the room a little bit, and Walter watched her with interest. She was certainly a good mother to Ralph, and Walter was glad he was able to help the young mother connect with her son on a more personal level. Ralph – in so many ways – had come so far from the anti-social boy Walter had met in the diner the day he first met them.

His eyes followed Paige as she circled around the coffee table and sat down next to him. "Thanks for keeping Ralph busy for me while I studied for my coursework earlier."

He shrugged and sent her a light smile. "It's only video games."

Paige looked like she was going to say something, but Ralph came running out of his bedroom, telling them he was ready for bed. Paige laughed in response to her son's grand entrance and pushed herself off of the couch. As she headed for Ralph's bedroom, Walter followed her. The interaction between mother and son intrigued Walter; Paige bent down to kiss Ralph's forehead and ruffle his hair, and the boy returned her hug when she wrapped her arms around him. After she whispered goodnight, she stepped away from her son and walked past Walter, telling the 197 IQ genius that she would be waiting for him on the couch.

Walter slowly walked towards Ralph and knelt down beside him. "Hey, buddy."

"Hi Walter." Ralph yawned and smacked his lips together.

"All right, well…. Goodnight." Walter lightly patted the boy's head before pushing away from Ralph's bed.

As he turned towards the door, Ralph called out to him. "Walter?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you like my mom?" Ralph blinked as Walter scratched the side of his face.

'Like' was not a strong enough term to describe whatever Walter was feeling for the boy's mother. He didn't have a "term" to describe how he felt for Paige, but whatever these feelings were, they were real – as real as nothing he had ever felt before. However, to satisfy the boy's inquiry, Walter simply nodded and muttered, "Yeah. I do."

Ralph smiled. "I think she likes you too."

"Do you now?" For reasons unknown, a hint of Walter's native accent found its way into his speech. Ralph nodded, and a small grin found Walter's lips. "What makes you think _that_, buddy?"

"She says your name at night sometimes while she's sleeping." Ralph answered, causing Walter's ears to burn. "Toby said that when you dream about somebody a lot, it means you like them. And Mom seems to dream about you a _lot_ – almost every night."

Walter blinked as he processed everything Ralph had just told him. "And you know this because…?"

"Thin walls." Ralph deadpanned.

"I see." Walter swallowed the lump in his throat. If Ralph's observation was correct, then there was a chance that Paige reciprocated Walter's feelings as well. He wasn't going to lie to himself; he, too, had had dreamt often about Paige. Some were memorable, and others were… rather provocative. To think that Paige might be having similar dreams made Walter's insides feel like jelly; all confidence he had had before he arrived disappeared in seconds. "Right. Well. You need your sleep so… goodnight, Ralph."

"Goodnight, Walter." Ralph smiled and then turned to his side as he closed his eyes.

Walter sauntered out of the boy's room and found Paige on the couch, reading one of her ridiculous _Chicken Soup for the Soul _books. As he made his way to the couch, she smiled up at him and closed her book before placing it on the coffee table next to her propped feet.

"So," Paige pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs as Walter sat down next to her. Her toes were lightly touching the front of his leg as he sat sideways with his side pressing against the back of the couch. "What brought you here, Walter?" Walter opened his mouth to speak, but she held her hand up to him. "Hold that thought." She leapt off of the couch and sprinted to the kitchen only to return with two mugs of hot tea. She handed Walter a mug, and he quickly took a sip as she sat back down and placed her mug on the cup coaster next to her book. He did the same thing, refusing to tell her he had just burnt his tongue from the hot liquid. "Okay," she faced the TV and rested her toes against the edge of the coffee table. "What were you gonna say?"

He inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly. "How do I even begin?" He didn't realize he had spoken until Paige answered him.

"Usually starting from the beginning works for me," Paige shrugged with a smile as she pressed her shoulder against his.

"Okay. Um." Walter ran his hand through his hair; he hadn't really thought anything out, and he was worried he would mess things up, but Toby said he needed to take a risk, and Paige had mentioned earlier that people often take risks for those they loved. Did _he _love Paige? He didn't know. He didn't really know _what _love felt like. So he couldn't accurately define the feelings he felt for her as love; not yet. "Sylvester found another yogurt in the fridge, but Toby took it from him and ate it."

Paige's eyebrow lifted and a smirk found her lips. "So you came all the way here to ask me to settle their dispute when I come to work tomorrow?"

"What? No." Walter really had no idea where he was trying to take this conversation. He pressed his lips together, unsure if he should continue.

"Then what does Sylvester's yogurt have to do with you being here?" Paige crossed her arms and angled her body towards him; her left knee was now touching his right one. Her eyebrow was still lifted, and a playful smile graced her lips.

"Um," Walter scratched the skin in front of his still-burning ear. "It was a lesson Toby was teaching Sylvester about taking risks."

"Seems like a common theme today." Paige laughed, and Walter nervously chuckled in response. Nothing nor no one made him more nervous than the woman sitting next to him. She was the only creature who made him weak in the knees, yet despite his lack of confidence around her, she often brought him a sense of confidence too. It was a strange dichotomy – one in which Walter might never understand. It was beyond his level of expertise, and strangely, he didn't care.

He had slowly come to learn that math and science usually flew out the window when it came to Paige's wellbeing. Hell, if he ever figured that one out, too.

"Yeah." Walter muttered as he eyed her fingers; they were picking at a golden seam along her denim jeans. Was she as nervous as he felt? "It does seem like that."

"So why are you here, Walter?" Paige pressed as she quickly sent him a glance before directing her attention to her fingers.

Walter considered her question carefully; he _could _try to tell her how he feels about her, but he didn't want to sound like a stuttering idiot. The last time he wore his heart on his sleeve was one of the most difficult conversations he had ever had with Paige. He wanted to convince her to stay in Los Angeles because he cared for both her and Ralph; confessing his feelings about the possibility of her leaving for Portland was a pain in the ass. There was so much he wanted to say, but his brain could only process half of what he wanted to tell her. He knew that if he tried telling Paige how he felt about her, he might not be able to say everything he wanted to say to her. Words – feelings – were not his strong suit; he didn't want to screw this moment up. He glanced at her; she was still focused on her fingers. It was now or never.

"Well, Walter?" Paige finally met his gaze; he didn't realize how long he had been looking at her. He could get lost in forever just from watching her tiny habits; over the last several months, after he realized he had feelings for her, he had started committing every little thing that made Paige Paige to memory.

Her love for lavender and cinnamon...

The sound of her voice…

The scent of her shampoo. _Cocoa Butter_…

The way she tapped her fingers impatiently when she was working at her desk…

Or how she quietly hummed to herself when she thought she was alone…

The list was endless.

"Hm?" He shook himself out of his reverie and blinked.

"Why are you here, Walter?" Paige's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Um…," Walter bit his lip. "I…," Walter couldn't will the words to flow out of his mouth. He struggled to speak. It felt as though a handful of cotton balls had been crammed down his throat.

"You want to write it down?" Paige's ghostly fingers brushed along his arm.

"No." He shook his head and ran his hands through his curls. He heard a voice inside his head – one that sounded very much like Toby – ordering him to take a damn risk before it's too late. He released a frustrated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was a lot harder than he thought. Perhaps he should just go back home and forget he ever stopped by. "This was a bad idea," he mumbled to himself as he rose to his feet and circled around the couch. "Forget I came here." Paige blinked as Walter shoved his hands into his pockets and then turned for the door. "I'll, uh…, I'll see you tomorrow."

Without a word, he sauntered out of Paige's apartment and closed the door behind him, cursing himself for being such a damn, emotionally ill-equipped idiot. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against her door; he half expected Paige to open the door again, but she didn't.

Maybe it was for the best.

Perhaps it was better for them to remain as friends. Perhaps a platonic relationship was all Paige wanted; who was he kidding? Why would a stunning woman like Paige want to be with a guy like him? Their personalities were oil and water; they did not mix.

He heaved a heavy sigh and pushed away from the door and walked down the hall with his hands in his pockets.

**~ SCORPION ~**

Paige didn't understand what had just happened; Walter was about to open up to her, but he clammed up and walked out as though nothing happened. What would make him shut down and walk away? She refused to believe he came all the way over to her condo just to spend some time with Ralph and tell her about Sylvester's yogurt. There was much more to the story, but only Walter knew what was going on inside his mind. She didn't remember hopping off of the couch, but she found herself pressing her cheek and her palms against the wooden door. She closed her eyes and sighed, wondering what was going through a certain genius's mind.

She sighed and walked away from her door; she didn't know why Walter's leaving bothered her so much, but it did, and she didn't like how distant he seemed when he left. She staggered over to her couch and spotted Walter's cellphone wedged between the seat cushions. She leaned over the back of the couch and reached for the cellular device. The moment she picked it up, it vibrated. She knew she shouldn't invade his privacy, but curiosity bested her judgement, and so she swiped the lock screen of Walter's android to see who had sent him a text message.

It was from Toby.

She skimmed over the message and felt her heart drop. In seconds, she dropped his phone, told Ralph she'd be right back and bolted out of her condo towards the stairs. She was running so fast, she nearly stumbled on her way to the parking lot. It was raining. Hard. She called out his name through the pounding rain, but he was already in his car, ready to drive away. Something possessed her to keep running, so she did; she ran right in front of his car, and as he slammed on the breaks, she leaned over the hood to catch her breath with her palms pressing against the wet, orange metal.

"What the hell, Paige?!" Walter exclaimed as he flung out of the vehicle and scrambled towards her. "Are you crazy?!" His palms first gripped her shoulders and then lightly touched her neck before cupping her cheeks. "You could have been seriously hurt!"

"I know!" Her heart was pounding, but it wasn't because of her little stunt she pulled off seconds ago.

He threw his hands outward. "Then what the hell were you thinking?!"

He did stuff like that all of the time, but she decided to keep that tidbit to herself. "I wasn't," she shouted over the rain.

"Then what were you doing?!" The rain pounded harder.

"Taking a risk!" She exclaimed as she grabbed his cheeks and yanked him down for a searing kiss. Paige's fingers crawled their way to his hair as she felt a pair of arms snake around her back, pulling her closer to the man she was kissing. As he leaned her backwards against the hood of his car, she wrapped her legs around his hips and pushed her tongue into his mouth. The feel of his tongue against hers did crazy things to her insides, and all she wanted to do was lead him back to her condo and pull him into her bedroom. The things she wanted to do to him made her want him even more.

As his lips left her mouth and traveled down her jawline towards her neck, she let out a small gasp when she felt Walter slither his palm underneath the hem of her shirt and softly squeeze her padded, left breast. She arched her back in response to his surprising but welcomed touch as he brought his lips back to hers.

"Bedroom," Paige stammered against his mouth as Walter rolled his hips against hers. "Now!" The next thing she knew, Walter whisked her away from his car and carried her up to her bedroom, and neither one of them ever looked back.

**~ SCORPION ~**

Walter's eyes fluttered open early the next morning, still in awe of everything that had transpired between him and Paige the night before. It was a memory he never wanted to stop replaying inside his mind; seconds after he brought Paige up to her bedroom, things escalated very quickly. There was kissing and lots of sex. Lots and lots of sex. He had no regrets, and he hoped she didn't either.

She was still sleeping against him, with her right leg curled around his and her arm draped over his chest. While his left hand was laced with hers, his other palm was cupping her bare shoulder, holding her close to him. Intimate proximity with Paige was something he could get very used to. Something he _wanted _to get used to.

Carefully, he slid out of the bed, and snuck off to the bathroom. When he returned, she was wide awake, and the sheets were no longer covering her soft beige skin. He knew _exactly _what she wanted. He climbed onto the bed and pushed his belly against hers as she pulled him down for a series of long, hungry kisses.

"Paige?" Walter mumbled her name against her lips, causing her to pause, pull back and look into his eyes.

"What is it, Walter?"

He opened his mouth, wanting to tell her how he felt, but he couldn't find the right words to describe every incredible, intense feeling he felt whenever he was around her… with her… holding her… kissing her… sleeping with her…. He was tongue-tied and felt embarrassed.

Paige, however, knew what he was trying to tell her. She cupped his cheeks and told him how much she loved him… how crazy she was for him… how he lit up her world every time she entered the garage…. She told him every crazy and illogical feeling she had for him, and as she described each and every feeling he had ever felt for her, he started to wonder if love really _did _exist.

And, for reasons unknown to him, he began to unravel every single feeling he felt about her. He told her everything he had committed to memory – the curvatures of her smile, the decibels of her laugh, the sound of her voice, her scent, her likes and dislikes, the smoothness of her skin, her little habits… he told her everything. He couldn't _stop _telling her everything; he wanted her to know how special she was to him. "…I don't know if what I told you is what love is…. I don't really even know what love feels like…. I've never experienced it... not in a romantic way, at least…," he blinked and gulped as he stared into her dark brown eyes; if he wasn't careful, he could lose himself within the aesthetics of her irises. Her natural beauty knew no bounds. "All I know," he pressed a brief, chaste kiss against her lips, "is that I want to… um… I want you to be the first person I see in the morning and the last person I see at night…."

"I want that too." Paige smiled then pulled him down for a hungry kiss, and for the first time in his life, Walter was happy with something outside the world of science and math; he had no regrets.

And neither did Paige.

**~ SCORPION ~**

Later in the morning, Walter threw on his clothes and combed his fingers through his hair. Instead of waking up Paige, he decided to let her sleep in and would take Ralph to school instead. After writing a quick note and placing it on top of the empty space on the bed, Walter quietly walked out of Paige's bedroom and checked in on Ralph; the boy was already ready for school.

"Morning, Walter." Ralph greeted him with a smile as he carried his backpack out of his room and placed it on the couch.

"Morning," Walter ruffled the boy's hair. "Sleep well?"

Ralph shrugged. "I slept okay. You?"

Walter quickly changed the subject. "So… have you eaten yet?"

"Yeah. I had some cereal." Ralph nodded with a small smile. "Is Mom up?"

"She's still sleeping; I'm going to take you to school today."

"Okay." Ralph grinned.

Walter looked at his watch; if he was going to get the boy to school on time, he needed to leave pronto. "You ready?"

"Yep."

"Okay. Let's go."

The pair of geniuses made their way to Walter's car and spent most of the ride in silence. As Walter pulled up to Ralph's school, Ralph finally spoke. "Are you going to be staying the night more often?"

Walter blinked with surprise. He was certainly not expecting such a question from the boy. "Um… maybe? Wh-why do you ask?"

Ralph shrugged. "You and Mom seem to really like each other; I heard both of you calling out each other's names last night." Walter's ears burned; he made a note to install soundproof panels into Paige's bedroom as well as his own at the garage. He mentally slapped himself for being so careless last night…. "Was it a good dream?"

"Um…," Walter scratched the side of his face and gave the boy the most truthful answer he could summon as a smile found his lips. "The best."

"Good." Ralph grinned as he pushed the door open. "I'm glad." He climbed out of Walter's car and waved before running off towards the school building. Walter waited in the parking lot until the boy was inside before pulling away from the school.

And on the way back to Paige's condo, he couldn't help but think he was so damn glad that last night was everything _but_ a dream, and if he _was _dreaming, he never wanted to wake up.

**~ SCORPION ~**

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**WriterFreak001: **

Yep. Well, that's my one-shot! :)

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I had fun writing it! :D

Let me know what you think!


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